Handheld digital information/imaging systems, such as digital cameras, cell phones, personal digital assistants, etc. have become widespread in use in recent years. In order to present images and systems information to a system user, the system is usually provided with at least one display for displaying images and/or information useful to the user. User interface switches are also usually provided to navigate among items displayed on the display. In digital cameras, it is typical to have a large LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) display for displaying an image or images captured by the digital camera. The display can also display image capture related functions and menus of camera features that are user selectable (See: U.S. patent application Publication U.S. Ser. No. 2002/0030754 A1, published Mar. 14, 2002, inventor Sugimoto; U.S. patent application Publication U.S. Ser. No. 2002/0024604 A1, published Feb. 28, 2002, inventors Fjima et al.; U.S. patent application Publication U.S. Ser. No. 2002/0057351 A1, published May 16, 2002, inventors Suzuki et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,877 B1, issued Nov. 6, 2001, inventor Anderson).
It would be desirable to provide a user with means to access frequently changed functions without having to scroll through several screens before the function is accessed. None of the former or following patents disclose such a capability: U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,210, issued Nov. 28, 2000, inventor Anderson; U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,935, issued Oct. 15, 1996, inventors Miura et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,291, issued Jan. 1, 1991, inventors Kurahashi et al.; and U.S. patent application Publication U.S. Ser. No. 2002/0024608A1, published Feb. 28, 2002, inventors Ejina et al.